The marriage test

By Matthew Bayley, Daily Mail

They are simple enough questions. Yet they could hold the key to a successful marriage.

Where the groom was born, what sort of house the bride's parents live in and the age of both bride and groom are all decisive factors in determining whether a relationship will sink or swim, according to research.

In one of the biggest surveys of what makes a union work, academics analysed 17,000 marriages to arrive at their formula for wedded bliss.

They identified at least ten signs that suggest whether a relationship will stay the course or hit the rocks.

The formula also helps explain the happy marriage of celebrity couples such as chef Jamie Oliver and ex-model Jools Norton, or the rocky state of actors Jude Law and Sadie Frost's union.

The survey was conducted at a time when the number of weddings held in Britain every year is the lowest since records began, with 267,961 marrriages in 2000 against 426,241 in 1972.

Some 40 per cent of marriages are doomed to failure, with a total of 160,000 couples divorcing every year.

The research highlights key background factors which can affect a marriage.

For men, being born to a teenage mother and not marrying until 25 or older are said to be the

most significant factors behind a successful marriage.

Males born in Scotland or northern England are also more likely to have a happy union, as are those with religious beliefs and a university degree.

For women, the chances of success improve if their parents own their own house and have a happy marriage themselves.

Positive factors also include having a 'non-manual occupation' which is not an office job - such as working in a shop - having a child after two years of marriage and not having lived with a man before.

For men, characteristics which point to likely failure include being born to a woman of 25 or over or marrying between 20 and 24.

For women, the marriage is more likely to fail if it does not produce children.

The study's co-author, Professor Ian Diamond, explained yesterday: 'One of the issues it highlights is that there are things that have gone on before you met your partner that affect the marriage.'

Couples counsellor Julia Cole added: 'It's very interesting because people who fall in love commonly think that love will keep them together and nothing else matters.

'The truth is that you need to be in love but you need to take all these factors into account as well.'